On This Day

14 October 1712

Birth of George Grenville, Whig Prime Minister 1763-65

Member of a prominent Whig family (his son William also became Prime Minister), George Grenville was Whig MP for Buckingham 1741-70. An early supporter, along with his brother-in-law William Pitt the Elder, of the “Boy Patriot” group lead by Lord Cobham which opposed Sir Robert Walpole, Grenville joined the administration of Henry Pelham as a Lord of the Admiralty and served in a succession of Whig governments. Later estranged from Pitt, Grenville served Tory Lord Bute eventually succeeding him as Prime Minister. Grenville prosecuted John Wilkes for seditious libel and introduced the Sugar and Stamp Acts which caused great resentment in the American Colonies. Never on good terms with George III, Grenville fell out with the King over who should rule in the event of the King’s becoming mentally unfit which led to Grenville’s dismissal never to return to high office.